Survivor XP924 (G-CVIX)

XP924 - Fly Navy Heritage Trust, RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset

Sea Vixen D.3 XP924 at RNAS Yeovilton, 9th July 2011; author

XP924 was originally an FAW.2 and served with 899 NAS before being retired from frontline service and converted to a D.3. Flown out of Llanbedr for many years, on retirement from her drone duties in 1991 she was acquired by Gwyn Jones and much effort was put in by him and Marcus Edwards (an ex-RN Sea Vixen pilot) to get her back in the air. Ferried in May 2000 from Swansea to its new base at Bournemouth International Airport, De Havilland Aviation succeeded in getting a Permit to Fly for the aircraft, and operated her on the airshow circuit on behalf of her owners, Drilling Systems Ltd. Her first two seasons were blighted with poor weather and unserviceability earning her the unkind 'No-see Vixen' description, but in early 2003 she gained sponsorship from a drinks company and was repainted to match a can of Red Bull. She then flew for three full seasons on the airshow circuit with much improved luck, until the sponsorship deal came to an end in 2007. Returned to her 899 NAS colours, she lay dormant until June 2008 when a new insurance deal enabled DHA to return her to the air. She carried out a handful of airshow appearances from July onwards and was also on the circuit for 2009, with additional funding courtesy of the Royal Navy - as many of the RN Historic Flight's own aircraft were grounded by various gremlins. She was flown in 2009 by Lt Cdr Matt Whitfield RN, a former Sea Harrier and current Hawk pilot (who has also flown the RNHF's Sea Hawk) but Matt suffered a stroke in August of that year (thankfully he has since recovered, certainly enough to be back flying Hawks) and De Havilland Aviation also went bankrupt a little over a month later. This left the aircraft without a pilot or engineering support for some time and despite best efforts she sat out the 2010 season on the ground. Engine and fast taxi runs have kept her active and with Simon Hargreaves (an ex 800 NAS Sea Harrier pilot) trained up to fly her, she rejoined the airshow circuit at the 2011 Yeovilton Air Day. Happily bookings were pretty healthy and she became a regular favourite at various shows, and in 2014 she was gifted by then-owners Drilling Systems to the Fly Navy Heritage Trust. She moved from Hurn to Yeovilton as a result. Unfortunately during a display in 2016 some damage was caused to one of her flaps; the repair was a big job which kept her grounded until early 2017. She then performed a single display at Duxford in May before experiencing a hydraulic failure on her return to Yeovilton, resulting in a gear-up landing which has caused significant damage which is likely to ground her for several years - assuming she can be repaired at all. See the Navy Wings page on Facebook for an update.

Visitor Comments

21 people have commented on this page. This is comment section 1 of 3.

Lionel A Smith from Fareham Hants

Posted at 3:10pm on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015

John Waller.

Ah! 893 on Vic'. I went on for deck trials in 1966 joining the Vic' off Portland in very rough weather, so much so that the MFV trying to get us on smashed its bridgework twice against the Vic's side.

The young Sub' in charge was going to abandon if the third attempt was similar. It was fun waiting for the deck to rise near the top of a wave and then jumping for a rung of the boarding ladder with one hand occupied by grasping a kit bag slung over a shoulder on which was already hung a hol... read more »read more »

John Waller from Somerton Somerset

Posted at 3:20pm on Saturday, January 31st, 2015

Having been a young Greenie (Electrician) on 893 RNAS I spent a while on HMS Victorious with 893 and well remember the Sea Vixen. Whilst at sea the squadron was slit into two waches working 12 hours on and 12 hours off which worked out as an 84 hour week. I suggest the civilian workforce try it!!!

Geoff Pollard from Cornwall

Posted at 4:19pm on Sunday, November 16th, 2014

With the generous donation of XP924 to the Fleet Air Arm Historic Flight in 2014, the long term future of this icon has been assured and we will be seeing the mighty Vixen for many more years.

Frank Stacey from Potton,beds

Posted at 3:15pm on Saturday, December 28th, 2013

The sea vixen is one aircraft I am very fond of .having had the privolage of working along side 3 of them ,at hewker siddely in hatfield I saw this aircraft at far bough a few years back ,unfortunately for me under red bull markings . My 3 where xj475 467 481 never to be forgotten keep up your good work

Lionel A Smith from Fareham. Hants

Posted at 11:50am on Monday, April 8th, 2013

Adrian Candey,

That is great news. I have yet to see her fly in the correct paint scheme for the type having only seen her at Sea Vixen 50 where I took some pictures. My site is linked to from within this one. I was so saddened that she didn't appear at the last Yeovilton Air Day and the Vulcan too was a sad no show.

Now I wonder when she flew this year because a few weeks back I heard overhead something that seemed familiar from my old days stationed at Yeovilton and working on these machines on SVMU... read more »read more »

Adrian Candey from Berks

Posted at 9:13pm on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

From the Bournemouth echo:
bournemouthecho . co . uk

"Paul Kingsbury, chief engineer of Bournemouth airport based DS Aviation, said: “The nose of the Sea Vixen is currently being re-sprayed after four months of repairs.

“It has been a labour of love with us having to beg, borrow and steal other parts from Sea Vixens. But it’s been worth it because she is fine and we are hoping she will be flying again next February.” " GREAT NEWS !!

Lionel A Smith from Fareham Hants

Posted at 4:12pm on Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Does anybody know the status of this aircraft since her accident?

Any idea how to contact her owners/operators?

I do wish that something like the Vulcan to the Skies was helping this aircraft.

L A SMITH from Fareham Hants

Posted at 12:13pm on Monday, June 25th, 2012

Very disappointed that she could not strut her stuff at Yeovilton this last weekend due to a landing accident earlier. I have yet to see her airborne in her correct naval colours, I cant get around much so Saturday was a big disappointment. I used to work on these things in the mid-1960s which was an interesting period with a mix of pre-10th, Faw1 and FAw2 on 766 and then FAW2s with flush Obs hatch on 893.

Don't panic about the last post - it wasn't a nose dive from great height. The nosewheel leg didn't deploy or collapsed and she landed on her main undercarriage and then her nose. The pilot is safe and hopefully the damage is repairable.

Jan Gould from Poole

Posted at 4:34pm on Thursday, April 5th, 2012

Sadly she has just nose dived into the tarmac at Bournemouth airport. Hope she's repairable!